Essays on Nihilism

Countless debates have ensued concerning the supposed importance of how life began, why it was created, and of course if it has any fundamental purpose. Some would argue that life has no meaning, that it is a randomized hodgepodge of experiences that when placed together create the sum of a life. Others would claim that there is meaning behind every experience, a driving goal that allows an individual to keep going when it would be easier to stop. Whether it is because of personal belief or fundamental truths that can be measured and verified the meaning of life remains ...

Introduction

People, as social creatures, tend to unite in groups that have something common: they may have a similar system of values, behavior or lifestyle that is different from the dominant culture to which they belong. In social studies, the word “subculture” refers to a part of a public group that differs from predominant society. This paper is aimed at analyzing subculture of punk, the role of media and style in punk youth subculture. From the perspective of cultural studies, a subculture is associated with a group of people that do not contradict against the values of traditional culture but ...

In his work “Gay Science”, Nietzsche examines the nihilism which was characterizing the contemporary Europe. Nietzsche believes that with the scientific inventions, people have lost their human and the virtues that describe Christians. This is why he says that “God is dead”; that we have killed God with our actions. His work was an explanation of fear due to the abandonment of religion. He believes that human beings have ceased to acknowledge the divinity of God, and as a result, God has abandoned us. For thousands of years, the western world has been guided by the rule of God. ...

The novel by Toni Morrison, Tar Baby, is a tale of the disputable plight of racially segregated African Americans and the underlying discrimination based on the racial prejudice and biases. The conflicts presented in the novel are portrayed in the character shades of the protagonist, Jadine, who is charged with an act of racial sedition as she pursued her dreams by abandoning her true culture and racial heritage. The novel uses the polemic viewpoints present in the character of Jadine to delineate the racial prejudice which exists at a different level of interaction within the society. Morrison’s primary ...

Summary of Tar Baby

The novel “Tar Baby” tells a story of two love birds, Jadine and Son. When the story starts, we are introduced to Son as he jumps off a merchant ship and swims towards a harbor. Unable to swim to the shore, he clutches onto a nearby yacht and sails away. Upon landing, Son finds himself in a small highland called Isle Des Chevaliers, where a rich man named Valerian Street lives (Morrison, 1). Son then decides to creep into Valerian’s house and hides in Margaret’s, (Valerian wife), bedroom. After an argument with her husband about his habit ...

Summary of “Tar Baby” :

Tar Baby is an interesting novel in that it is the love story of two black individuals. Typically, in literature we have seen the plight of the interracial couple explored; however, in Tar Baby, we see the plight of a couple within the Black race explored, (Morrison, Tony, pg. 3). Tar Baby essentially highlights the hierarchy within the Black classes as the two characters explore their potential to have a viable love affair. What ends up transpiring as a result is that the characters face the fact they often feel homeless in the world around them because it is ...

1. In “The Postmodern Condition” Jean Francois Lyotard defines post-modernity as “Incredulity towards metanarratives”. In outlining Lyotard's position as elaborated in this essay, it is evident that his work focuses primarily on the possibility of achieving what he calls a “unity of experience”. In order to understand his conception of this idea it is necessary to first assess his view of society in relation to the modern world. Postmodern culture demonstrates “a radical break, both with a dominant culture and aesthetic, and with a rather different moment of socioeconomic organization” (Lyotard, 1990, p. vii). This demonstrates a fundamental shift ...

Summary of Cornel West’s Race Matters

The book Race Matters by Cornel West was published in the year 2001. In the book, the author addresses the issue of racism from a spiritual and political perspective. He explains how racism affects both whites and Afro-Americans and criticizes the various approaches that have been used to deal with racism. He tries to find equality between these two races and his objective is to ensure that the whites do not have too much power. He argues that the anger that the blacks have towards the whites is a result of oppression experienced during slavery and also the nihilism ...